Shaykh Munaf’s Arabic conversations: Episode 3

In this article I’ll be guiding you through the third episode in Shaykh Munaf’s series of Arabic conversations. This episode starts with Shaykh Munaf (منافmunaaf) running into Abdur Rahmaan (عبد الرحمانʕabd ir-raḥmaan), who, again, is dragging a suitcase. Here’s the video:

Munaf asks Abdur Rahman where he is coming from, using this phrase:

مِنْ أَيْنَ أَنْتَ قادِم؟

min ’ayna ’anta qaadim?

‘Where are you coming from?’

قادم qaadim ‘coming’ is a participle, which is a kind of adjective, so the feminine form would be قادمة qaadima.

Abdur Rahman replies that he has been in Saudi Arabia, which in Arabic is literally ‘the Saudi Arabian Kingdom’:

In Egyptian Arabic, this word (pronounced ḥilw) also means ‘pretty’ or ‘nice (said of a thing)’.

The word used to refer to the Prophet Muhammad here is this one:

الْرَّسول

’ar-rasuul

‘the Messenger’

When mentioning the Prophet, it is customary to follow that immediately with a blessing:

الْرَّسُول، صَلّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم

’ar-rasuul, ṣallaa l-laahu ʕalay-hi wa sallam

‘All God’s prayers and blessings be upon him’

Abdur Rahman uses the following phrases to say ‘the best dates’:

أَحْسَن الْتُّمُور

’aḥsan it-tumuurmore formal: ’aḥsanu t-tumuur

‘the best dates’

Munaf asks for another date. He departs from his customary formal Arabic here, almost using the colloquial word تاني taanii for ‘other’. He catches himself, but still fails to put the proper accusative ending on واحد waaḥid. Here is the correct phrase:

أَعْطِنِي واحِدًا آخَر.

’aʕṭi-nii waaḥidan ’aakhar.

‘Give me another.’

The imperative form in that phrase is based on this verb:

أَعْطَى

يُعْطِي

’aʕṭaa

yuʕṭii

‘he gave’

‘he gives’

Here is another imperative used here, based on the verb يأخذ ya’khudh ‘to take’. Here the imperative is given in the both the masculine and feminine forms:

خُذِي

خُذ

khudhii

khudh

‘give (fem.)’

‘give (masc.)’

Munaf uses the following phrases to describe dates as ‘food of the Arabs’.

طَعام العَرَب

ṭaʕaam il-ʕarabmore formal: ṭaʕaamu l-ʕarab

‘food of the Arabs’

Munaf has finally left, and Abdur Rahman breathes a sigh of relief:

أَخيرًا!

’akhiiran!

‘Finally!’

That Shaykh Munaf sure asks a lot of questions:

أَسْئِلة كَثيرة

’as’ila kathiiramore formal: ’as’ilatun kathiira

‘many questions’

Note how the feminine singular form of the adjective كثير kathiir is used here. This is because ‘questions’, while plural, does not refer to people. Agreement with non-human plural is always feminine singular.

Here are the singular and plural forms of ‘question’:

أَسْئِلة

سُؤال

’as’ila

su’aal

‘questions’

‘question’

I hope you found this explanation useful. Be sure to check out the other videos in in this series.